Making Human Geography [Hardcover]

This book cogently examines how human geography has developed from a field with limited self-awareness regarding method and theory to the vibrant study of society and space that it is today. Kevin R. Cox provides an interpretive, critical perspective on Anglo-American geographic thought in the 20th and 21st centuries. He probes the impact of the spatial-quantitative revolution and geography's engagement with other social sciences, particularly in social theory. Key concepts and theories in the field are explained and illustrated with instructive research examples. Cox explores both how new approaches to human geography get constructed and what each school of thought has contributed to understanding the world in which we live.

A brilliant and comprehensive survey of the development of human geography over the past century, with special reference to the critical period of the last 50 or 60 years. The book provides a masterful survey of the many and often torturous debates that have characterized the field, and includes penetrating interpretative commentaries on what was--and is--at stake.Making Human Geographyis essential reading for all geographers and is an indispensable text for undergraduate and graduate students in human geography. --Allen J. Scott, PhD, Distinguished Research Professor of Geography, University of California, Los Angeles

In this creative and personable review of the past century of geographic thought, Cox demonstrates the ongoing power of spatial thinking. Using an informal and accessible style, he deftly takes the reader through the profound changes wrought by the spatial-quantitative revolution on up to the present. Students and practitioners interested in where geography has been and where it's going will find this book full of rich detail, from a scholar who has been at the center of the discipline's debates and transformations. --Katharyne Mitchell, PhD, Department of Geography, University of Washlc2